Excellent childcare services, safety and quality of life makes the Czech Republic the 10th most livable city in the world for expats.

By BOHEMIST STAFF

PRAGUE – An improving quality of life, safety and travel options are among several key factors that have skyrocketed the Czech Republic 12 spots to become the 10th most livable city in the world for expatriates, according to a new report.

“The availability and costs of childcare and education there are rated well by expat parents, with close to three-quarters [74%] overall agreeing that education is easy to afford in the Czech Republic compared to the global average of 45%,” states the 2016 InterNations Expat Insider Survey.

The survey interviewed more than 14,000 expats living in 191 countries and asked them about their quality of life, personal finance and work-life balance, in creating their third annual global ranking.

Topping the list this year was Taiwan, with an internationally renowned healthcare system, followed by Malta and Ecuador. The Czech Republic is only one of four European countries in the top ten, following Austria and Luxembourg in the eighth and ninth spots respectively.

According to the study, not one parent had something negative to say about children’s health there in the Czech Republic with 94% being overall positive.

“Similarly, the Czech Republic comes third for the children’s well-being factor with 91% of expat parents overall satisfied. However, similar to the attitude towards foreign residents in general, the local attitude towards families with children does not receive glowing reviews. The country comes in 36th for this factor with 13% rating it negative to at least some degree, compared to 7% globally.”

Those survey also did not have glowing reviews for the country’s quality of education, which the study identified as “not quite so good.”

“While the country still receives 81% generally positive opinions, it is in 13th place for this particular factor, compared to 2nd and 5th for availability of childcare and education, respectively.”

Contributing to the Czech Republic’s surge in the rankings is the fact that the study failed to interview a sufficient number of participants with children last year, a category the country scored especially well in this year. In terms of overall family life, the Czech Republic ranks number two in the world, scoring third in the world for both childcare and cost of childcare.

It also did well in the categories of overall living costs and housing costs, coming in at number eight and ten respectively.

The three countries at the end of the list in 2016 have remained the same as in last year’s report. They are Kuwait, Greece, and Nigeria.